Epilogue
The chatter grows louder and curious faces all watch me.
I stand at the top of the small metal staircase in our packing warehouse with Santi, Papa, and Mama at my side. Our guest of honor is quietly standing by, waiting for the signal.
I hold up my hand and raise my voice over the noise. “Could I get everyone’s attention?” The voices quiet and they turn to look at where I stand. “Thank you all for taking a few minutes to join us here. We have some exciting news to share and want you all to be the first to know.”
Smiles look back at me.
“First,” I begin. “Happy National Pecan Day! April 14th is a special one for us and that is why I chose today to share this exciting new journey.” I look at my family for reassurance and they nod.
“As many of you know, we have had our friends at Steele Nuts with us for the last seven and a half months, busy in our kitchen cooking up amazing recipes for their line, Nutty Delights. We have loved having them here.
“Breaking into the food sector of the market has been a goal of ours as well as expansion. And after some talks and lots of negotiations, we can say we are finally moving forward into that sector. But it’s not how you all may be imagine.”
My palms sweat and I grow fidgety, but power on.
“For years we have tried to acquire Steele Nuts but I realize we were going at it all wrong. Steele Nuts is a company with much to be proud of. We would never want to strip them of their legacy. So instead we have come to an agreement to a merger.”
I say the word and the door into the office creaks open.
“We are so happy to announce our new partner, Burke Steele and his daughter Aster Steele, and welcome in the new venture, Regal Steele Pecans and Food.”
The employees clap and whistle and Burke comes to stand next to me along with Aster. He holds up his hand with a wave and mouths thank you over and over. Papa hugs both Aster and Mama, and Santi stands with a wide smile on the other side.
I look at the line of us standing on the platform and feel like everything has fallen into place. I couldn’t be happier.
I feel a strong hand grip mine and look down to see Burke’s fingers wrap around mine. My eyes trail up to meet his and he winks. People have know about the two of us for the last few weeks after going public to our families.
We thought about keeping things quiet outside of our homes, but it was just too difficult to hold it in. We could barely refrain from touching and kissing one another, and it was getting too tough to hide it.
Before we agreed on the merger, we thought it would be best just to spill the beans. Funny, but most people had figured it out. I was never a liar or a sneak, so I guess I didn’t put up a good front.
Employees are happy and as we make out way down the steps and people begin to congratulate us, it almost feels like they know our other secret. Somehow I’ve been able to keep that one under wraps and I’m quite proud. Burke too because he is equally bad of hiding things.
His arm goes around my waist and he snakes his fingers around to tap my small belly. Soon it won’t be easy to disguise, so the news will definitely be coming out. But for now we’d like to live in our own world.
I wasn’t lying when I said I was on birth control. I’ve never missed one day and I’m religious about taking them. However, Burke’s swimmers are still pretty motivated and it seems one got past the barricade.
When I showed him the positive pregnancy test, I thought for sure he’d freak out and run for the hills.
Instead, he hoot and hollered and spun me around, smothering me in kisses.
I assume that he wouldn’t want anymore kids having three grown daughters, but he said he couldn’t wait to start our family.
He tried to convince me to fly to Vegas to get married, and offered to throw a giant wedding.
I told him I wasn’t ready for a baby and a marriage and suggested we just take it slow.
He wasn’t happy with that and we ended up compromising with me moving in with him.
I told him we can revisit the topic after the baby arrives.
We agreed then promptly began discussing names.
I told him there was no use in coming up with a boys name as we knew he was only shooting out pink bows and twirly dresses.
He snarled with a dose of sarcasm, and we settled on calling our (possible) daughter Rose to keep with the flower trend.
He was still insisting on at least having a boy name ready just in case, but I told him not to worry because I had the perfect one.
Burke.
Nothing would make me happier than to name our son after his father. We’ve only got weeks until we find out because I am impatient and won’t be waiting for another seven months.
One thing that we didn’t have to think twice on was a nickname for our baby. It came as easy as breathing. We looked at one another and he same time said…
“Our little nutty buddy.”
Burke Steele cracked open my hard shelled heart and I am so lucky that he decided to shake my tree.